Fastener for sliding doors of railway cars



Oct. 16, 1951 DATH 2,571,215

FASTENER FOR SLIDING DOORS OF RAILWAY CARS Filed Oct. 8, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet l Invent or Gegye Ella/A 1951 e. E. DATH 2,571,215

FASTENER FOR SLIDING DOORS OF RAILWAY CARS Filed Oct. 8, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 III 4- 20 git? an [I F! U @11 a 23 I 22 I r WWib-l Patented Oct. 16, 1951 UNITED STATE FASTENEIt FOR SLIDING nooas or RAILWAY CARS George E. Dath, Mokena, 111., assignor to W. H.

Miner, Inc., Chicago, 111., a corporation of Delaware Application October 8, 1947, Serial No. 778,532

This invention relates to improvements in fasteners for sliding doors, and more particularly for doors of this character supported for move- 1 Claim. (enac -123) ment into and out of the door opening by swing- W ing crank members rotatably supported on carrier means slidingly guided for movement lengthwise of the car.

One object of the invention is to provide a sliding door construction for railway cars, comtheir outer ends to the top and bottom tracks [3 and I4, the crank member I5 atthe lower side of the door having its outer end journaled in a carrier I! of well-known design, slidable on the lower track, and the crank member l5 at the top of the door having its outer end journaled in a roller I8, which is guided in the upper track l3, which is of channel-shaped cross section. As is well understood by those skilled in this art, the crank prising a rotary crank member swingingly supmembers I5|5 at the front end of the door, toporting the door for in and out movement, fixed gether with the crank members at the rear end cam means with which the crank member is thereof, not shown, are extended at right angles engageable during sliding movement of the door to the car wall when the door is in fully open to closed position, to move the leading end of the position and hold the door in spaced parallel redoor into the door opening, and a projecting l5 lation to the car wall during the major portion of cam lug on the leading end of the door engagemovement of the door toward closed position, and ,able, with the fixed keeper to Wedge the door are swung inwardly to move the door into the tightly shut, wherein the keepers and the cam door opening during the final operation of closmeans are formed on a single one piece bracket ing the door. secured to the walls of the car, and the keeper In carrying out my invention, I provide broadly engaging cam lug is formed on a bracket secured .top and bottom brackets A-A secured to the car to the door, which bracket also serves as supwall above and below the door opening, each porting bearing means for the crank member, bracket having a keeper B and a cam projection thereby positively assuring proper relative posi- C thereon and'formed rigid therewith, and top tioning of the crank member, cam means, keeper and bOGtOm bea b c t D for the p and and keeper engaging lug with respect to each bottom crank members l5l5, each bearing other to prevent failure of the mechanism to bracket D having a p ojecting 1 E thereon function properly, which might otherwise occur gageable W the keeper of the CorreSpOnding due to accidental mislocation of these parts with bracket respect to each other. The brackets AA are of similar design, but re- Other objects of the invention will more clearly versely arranged, that is, the upper bracket is inappear from the description and claim hereinverted with respect to the lower one. Each after following. bracket A is in the form of an L-shaped casting In the accompanying drawings forming a part having a relatively long, horizontal arm l9 and of this specification, Figure 1 is a broken, elea relatively short, vertical arm 20, the arm 20 vational view of one of the side walls of a railway refrigerator car provided with a sliding door, illustrating my improvements in connection therewith. Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view, corresponding substantially to the line 22 of Figure 1. Figure 3 is a view, similar to Figure 2, showing the door in dotted lines, slid to partly closed position parallel to the car wall, and in full lines, swung partly into the door opening.

In said drawings, l0 indicates the side wall of a car, which is provided with the usual door opening ll, closed by a sliding door 12. The door I2 is slidable along top and bottom tracks I 3 and I4, being supported by the usual swinging crank members at the leading and rear ends of the same, the crank members at the leading end of the door only being shown, the same being indicated by l5-l5. As shown, the crank members l5--l5 are swingingly supported at their inner ends on the door, and swingingly connected at of the lower bracket upstanding from the arm [9 and that of the upper bracket depending from its arm 19. The top and bottom brackets A-A are secured to the wall of the car at respectively the upper and lower corners of the forward end of the door opening, the long arms I 9l9 extending along the top and bottom edges of the opening and the short arms 2ll2ll extending along the vertical edge at the front of said door opening.

The cam projection C of each bracket A is in the form of an elongated, outward, integral enlargement on the arm I9 in the path of movement of an extension 2| of the crank arm 22 of the corresponding crank member IS, the cam projection of the upper arm being at the upper edge of the same at the right hand end portion thereof, and the cam projection of the lower arm being on the lower edge thereof at the right hand end of the same, as seen in Figure 1.

The keeper B of each bracket A is in the form of an outwardly protruding socket on the arm 20, closely adjacent the corresponding corner of the door opening and is open at the right hand side, as seen in Figure 1. Each socket has the vertical outer wall 23 thereof inclined outwardly toward the door to provide an inner cam face with which the corresponding lug E is engageable.

The bearing bracket D in which the vertical shaft portion 24 of the corresponding crank member I is journaled is of the usual split type,

comprising a back plate 25 and a cover plate 26.v

As shown in Figure 1, the lower bearing bracket D is secured to the door l2 at the lower left hand corner thereof and the upper bearing bracket: D is secured to said door at the upper left hand corner. 1

The keeper engaging lug E of each bracket D is in the form of a projecting, laterally outwardly inclined finger, which isformed integral with the cover plate 2601 said bracket and isin alignment with the corresponding keeper B to engage with the-latter and force the door closed,

As hereinbefore stated, the crank members I5-l5 are normally in a position at right angles to the car wall when the door is open and-,hold the door in spaced parallel relation to said wall. In this right angular position of thecrank members I5--l5-, the cam projections 0-0 of the top and bottom brackets A-A are in the paths of the endsll-Z I of the arms 20-20 of the crank members as the door is slid toward closed position along the tracks- I3 and I4. Thus, as the door is slid toward closed position, the end 2| of each of the arms 20 encounters the corresponding cam projection C, as shown in dotted lines in Figure 3; and rides over this cam projection, as shown in full lines in said figure, to swing the crank member and carry the leading end of the door inwardly toward the side wall of the car and align the keeper engaging lug E of the corresponding bracket with its cooperating keeper B. As, movement of the door to closed position is continued, the keeper engaging lug E enters the pocket of 4 the keeper and cams the leading end of the door tightly closed by wedging engagement with the inclined wall 23 of the keeper.

I claim:

In a door construction for a container having an opening in the wall thereof closed by a sliding door, the combination with top and bottom bearing brackets secured to the door; of top and bottom crank members for supporting the leading end of the door, each of said crank members including an arm swingingly supported at its outer end: on a carrier which is slidable lengthwise of said wall, each of said arms having its inner end journaled inthe corresponding bearing bracket; topand, bottom L-shaped brackets secured to said wall at the forward end of said door opening, each of said L-shaped brackets having along arm extending lengthwise of said opening and a. short arm extending vertically along the vertical front edge of said opening; a cam projection on the horizontal arm of each L-shaped bracket, said cam projection being in the path of movement of the: outer end of the arm of the corresponding crank member to be engaged by said arm to effect inward swinging movement of said arm as the door is being moved toward closed position; a socketed keeper on said vertical arm of each L-shaped bracket; and a projecting cam lug on each bearing bracket integral therewith, said projecting cam lugs of said top and bottom bearing brackets being engageable respectively with the top and bottom keepers to cam the door tightly closed.

GEORGE E. DATH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,196,294 Dwyer Apr. 9, 1940 2,453,793 Hueem Nov. 16, 1948 

